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  • Disney forms international content group, Rebecca Campbell to lead

    Disney forms international content group, Rebecca Campbell to lead

    Mumbai: The Walt Disney Company is creating a new hub for international content under the direction of international content and operations chairman Rebecca Campbell.

    The company is also making several key executive appointments to its media and entertainment distribution segment under the leadership of its chairman Kareem Daniel.

    Joe Earley becomes Hulu’s new president

    In her newly expanded role as international content and operations chairman, Campbell will focus on local and regional content production for Disney’s streaming services, as well as continue overseeing Disney’s international media teams worldwide, reporting directly to The Walt Disney Company CEO Bob Chapek.

    “Disney’s direct-to-consumer efforts have progressed at a tremendous pace in just a few short years, and our organisation has continued to grow and evolve in support of our ambitious global streaming strategy,” stated Bob Chapek. “Rebecca has played a vital role in orchestrating our global platform expansion, and I’m excited that she will be leading our new International Content group, bringing her expertise and talent to oversee the growing pipeline of original local and regional content for our streaming services while continuing to lead our international operations. Likewise, with a relentless focus on serving consumers, Kareem has developed an industry-leading team of seasoned executives who are uniquely equipped to take our streaming business into Disney’s next century.”

    Campbell will continue to oversee the company’s teams in the Asia Pacific, EMEA, India and Latin America who manage the company’s international linear channels, regional streaming, local ad sales, and local distribution. “Great content is what drives the success of our streaming services, and I am thrilled to have the opportunity to work even more closely with the talented creators in our international markets who are producing new stories with local relevance to delight our audiences around the globe,” she said in a statement.

    The international content and operations group will be home to a fourth content-creation engine for the company, alongside the studios’ content, general entertainment content and sports content groups.

    Michael Paull has been promoted to the newly created role of Disney Streaming president with accountability for Disney+, Hulu, ESPN+ and Star+ and will oversee these platforms globally for the media and entertainment distribution segment reporting to Daniel.  

    “From the inception of our DTC business, we have been guided by a single, clear goal—to bring audiences the best entertainment wherever and whenever they choose—and we have continued to build a world-class team to deliver on that promise,” said Kareem Daniel. “Michael Paull has deep experience in the world of streaming and is an accomplished leader with a passion for this business and a proven track record of building and expanding our streaming operations. Bringing Disney’s streaming platforms together under Michael’s expert leadership will allow us to create an even more compelling value proposition for consumers.”

    Joe Earley, who previously served as Disney+ executive vice president marketing and operations, has been named Hulu president and will report to Paull.

    The streaming leadership team will also include a new head of Disney+, who has yet to be named. Russell Wolff continues to serve as head of ESPN+. These roles will also report to Paull.

    “Now that we have established our platforms as category leaders, I’m looking forward to the new challenges ahead as we continue to innovate and scale globally, while delighting consumers with all the incredible entertainment and sports programming coming from our content partners,” said Michael Paull. “I’ve also had the pleasure of working closely with Joe Earley these past few years and can’t imagine a better leader to take the helm of Hulu.”

  • Joe Earley becomes Hulu’s new president

    Joe Earley becomes Hulu’s new president

    Mumbai: Disney has announced the appointment of Joe Earley as president of streaming service platform – Hulu. He previously served as executive VP of marketing and operations at Disney Plus and is headed to its sister service after joining the media company in 2019.

    Earley succeeds former Hulu chief Kelly Campbell, who left the company in October to become the president of NBCUniversal’s Peacock.

    In the new role at Hulu, Earley will be responsible for building on the service’s brand and will liaise with its various content studios. He will report to Michael Paull, who has been promoted to a new role overseeing Disney+, Hulu, ESPN+ and Star+ as president of Disney Streaming.

    “I am excited to embark on this new era at Hulu, a streaming pioneer that over the past 15 years has distinguished itself with an unrivaled offering of groundbreaking, award-winning series and films from our talented content partners,” Earley said in a statement. “I have been a longtime Hulu subscriber and fan and have admired the unbridled creativity of the service’s content and culture, and I’m looking forward to the exciting opportunities that lie ahead, collaborating with our content studios, and tapping into the full power and strength of The Walt Disney Company.”

  • #Retrace2021: Inching towards a connected future of audience measurement

    #Retrace2021: Inching towards a connected future of audience measurement

    Mumbai: It was for the first time since the 1960s, that Nielsen’s measurement lost a “seal of approval” from the industry that uses it, as leading advertisers and TV networks sought alternate means of counting their audiences. The TV measurement company had long faced criticism from the Video Advertising Bureau (trade organisation representing the advertising sales departments of networks and distributors) over undercounting the TV viewing during the pandemic, and the exclusion of broadband-only homes. The months-long feud culminated in the suspension of accreditation of Nielsen’s national and local TV ratings service by the Media Ratings Council, effective mid-September 2021.

    Also read: Nielsen loses accreditation for TV measurement service

    Matters were further compounded by NBCUniversal launching a measurement RFP in August, calling for “measurement independence”. In September, even as Nielsen CEO David Kenny acknowledged the gap and bias in measurement as a result of the exclusion of broadband-only homes representing nearly 30 per cent of TV households in some local markets, ViacomCBS announced its partnership with software and data platform, VideoAmp for TV measurement data. The move opened the way for other networks to explore alternative means of counting their audiences.

    Also read: ViacomCBS teams up with VideoAmp for TV Measurement after Nielsen loses accreditation

    At the centre of this growing dissatisfaction with the panel-based measurement system was the Connected-TV revolution and the under as well as misrepresentation of the large universe of the audience that has either completely cut the cord or is consuming both linear and CTV across devices and platforms. The industry was clamouring for a unified identifier that could bring about fundamental changes in the current measurement system which oversimplifies viewing across CTV by extending linear TV measurement standards to it and/or combining two viewing data sets that do not have common metrics.

    Hopes were now pinned on Nielsen ONE, Nielsen’s single cross-media product providing reach and frequency metrics by delivering a holistic, deduplicated view of both content and ad performance regardless of screen, device or platform.

    Laying the groundwork for implementing the new flagship currency across local, national and digital measurement towards the end of September, Nielsen announced the “Impressions First Initiative” for impression-based buying and selling in local markets across the US, as well as the integration of Broadband-Only Homes into local measurement in January 2022. The impression-based currency will deliver a more complete, precise and representative audience measurement, along with the added benefit of enabling cross-platform audience measurement, it said. 

    Going full-throttle on its digital transformation, in October Nielsen unveiled a new brand campaign, including a new identity, reflecting the company’s focus on delivering digital-first and global-first media solutions in three areas—measurement, audience outcomes and content services. The shift signaled the combining and enhancing its measurement solutions into the single cross-media measurement solution, Nielsen One.

    Announcing the year’s biggest development and the culmination of a long wait, on 21 December 2021, Nielsen unveiled the first iteration of Nielsen ONE, ‘NielsenONE Alpha’ with Disney and MAGNA as participants. The newest deduplicated ad-measurement will continue to evolve with new feature additions, enhancements, and model improvements leading up to the launch of the final product in the fourth quarter of 2022.

    Aligning India with the global digital shift  

    While the connected TV/OTT ecosystem in India is not as well developed and deeply entrenched yet, it is relevant here to recall Barc India’s intent to initiate ‘one video view’ measurement, announced in September 2020 by ex CEO Sunil Lulla. At the height of the TRP scam that broke out around the same time, a section of the industry had expressed doubt regarding some stakeholders derailing the ratings agency’s efforts and intentions to bring forth a unified, cross-platform measurement system.

    Also read: Nielsen to launch new commercial metrics to track individual ads on TV

    The TRP committee formed in the aftermath of the scandal recommended measures to reinstate faith in the current rating system by strengthening corporate governance within Barc India at the board level through independent technical oversight, term limits, and wide representation that minimises conflicts of interest. The 39-page report also pushed for the formation of multiple rating agencies in competition to Barc India and creating a specialised regulator to oversee all of them.

    Even as it addressed the pitfalls in linear TV measurement, the four-member panel led by Prasar Bharati CEO Shashi Shekhar Vempati laid down the framework for a comprehensive transformation and democratisation of the country’s rating systems and standards in line with the global shift towards digital.

    Considering the increasing convergence between STBs and smart media devices and the emergence of hybrid boxes capable of both CAS compliant linear TV viewing and internet streaming-based OTT viewing, the committee recommended a Return Path Data (RPD) mandate in all future STBs deployed by Distribution Platform Operators (DPOs). It also noted the emergence of smartphone-based apps capable of interacting with such hybrid boxes as paving the way for additional avenues for RPD data capture and relay.

    Further, it suggested the government/regulator examines incentives and policy interventions including FDI norms in the media audience measurement technology space so that India emerges as the hub for global innovation in this sector.

    Acknowledging the growth in digital advertising as well as the trend of linear TV viewing over interfaces other than traditional televisions and beyond the threshold of conventional households, the committee stressed the need for regulatory interventions to foster innovation while allowing for value chains to evolve, keeping pace with global trends and local market dynamics.

    “A hallmark of digital innovations over the past few decades has been disintermediation within value chains and disruption across industry domains, leveling the playing field and spurring competition. The world of linear television ought to be no exception to such disintermediation between buyers and sellers of media. There are no reasons why new models of advertising such as platform-based advertising, location-based advertising, programmatic advertising, etc must not emerge,” it said while adding that the guidelines prescribed must not privilege any one business model over another, nor create barriers to the emergence of more efficient business models.

    The above recommendations are both practicable and necessary considering the pace at which television viewing is evolving in India. As per mediasmart’s India CTV Report 2021, CTV viewing in India is on a significant uptick and increased by 31 per cent, compared to 81 per cent globally. Even though India is still a young market, it has tremendous potential for CTV adoption by consumers. In April 2020, 21 per cent of CTV viewing households were cord-cutters (households who cut the cord within the past five years), whereas 22 per cent were cord-nevers (households with no cable/satellite subscription in the past five years).

    Ormax Media research pins the Indian OTT audience universe at 353.2 million people, translating into a penetration of 25.3 per cent. According to various other estimates, the figure including YouTube is roughly 500 million. As regards CTV adoption, Madison’s Q2 report revealed that smart TV shipments grew by almost 65 per cent, claiming an 80 per cent share of the total TV shipments. Their massive adoption was fuelled by starting price points as low as Rs.15000.

    Given that TV as a medium still has considerable scope for growth in India, preparing for a connected future may seem like a long shot at this juncture. However, the Indian market which is often typecast as ‘underdeveloped’ is also a curious one where the digital revolution is being brought about by smartphones that have outmaneuvered PCs as the primary or base medium. With the current regulatory regime that seems to accelerate the clear segmentation of audience between Free Dish and streaming services by allegedly disincentivising Pay/Cable TV, we might be in for more surprises. 

  • HBO Max Southeast Asia & India MD Amit Malhotra moves on

    HBO Max Southeast Asia & India MD Amit Malhotra moves on

    Mumbai: HBO Max Southeast Asia and India managing director Amit Malhotra has stepped down from his role and is no longer associated with the company. The development was confirmed by WarnerMedia on Monday.

    Malhotra joined WarnerMedia in June and was spearheading the rollout and management of WarnerMedia’s direct-to-consumer platform in Southeast Asia including India.

    Malhotra is a media and entertainment industry veteran who has more than 25 years of experience under his belt and was part of the board of directors at Asia Video Industry Association and Infocomm Media Development Authority.

    He previously served as regional lead for Disney+ in Southeast Asia, where he was responsible for overseeing the launch and operations of Disney’s streaming services in the region, including Disney+, Disney+ Hotstar and Hotstar. He was associated with The Walt Disney Company for 17 years.

  • Nielsen One Alpha launches with Disney and Magna

    Nielsen One Alpha launches with Disney and Magna

    Mumbai: Nielsen has revealed the first iteration of Nielsen One – its single cross-platform measurement solution. The newest advancement ‘Nielsen One Alpha’ deduplicated ad measurement will be debuting at the upcoming Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. 

    Alpha will continue to evolve with new feature additions, enhancements, and model improvements leading up to the launch of Nielsen One in the fourth quarter of 2022.

    Disney and Magna have joined several agencies, advertisers, networks, and digital publishers as Nielsen One Alpha participants from both the buy and sell sides of the industry. Access to Nielsen One Alpha will give users the ability to measure advertising content across linear as well as digital platforms and provide holistic and harmonised ad metrics. 

    Nielsen One Alpha will be specific to ad campaigns, unveiling the first cross-platform measurement system of its kind that offers both comparability and audience deduplication across all screens (linear TV, connected TV, computer and mobile). Media buyers and sellers will for the first time have the most holistic view of their ads across consumer delivery systems and platforms in a harmonised manner—crucial as the linear and digital landscapes continue to rapidly converge. The deduplicated ad measurement metrics account for age and gender information.

    “All our hard work this past year has positioned us to take this significant step in fundamentally changing the game and providing the industry with what it wants, needs and deserves,” said Nielsen COO Karthik Rao.

    “We are on track to deliver our single cross-platform measurement solution in the fourth quarter of 2022, as planned and in a manner that will support the $100 billion video advertising ecosystem. The Alpha launch serves as a clear proof point in our ability to deliver and we are working closely with a diverse group of clients on this important step. In fact, Nielsen One will bring together all the intelligence we have to date in order to help clients capitalise on consumers’ rapidly shifting media habits,” added Rao.

    Nielsen will continue to release major enhancements to Nielsen One, leading up to its December 2022 launch, aimed at expanding its coverage, delivering comparability across linear TV and digital and strengthening the quality and usability of its data solutions.  

    “There’s a critical need for the evolution of measurement to truly reflect audiences and engagement, and Disney is uniquely positioned to help define and develop that roadmap,” stated Disney media & entertainment distribution head of research, insights and analytics Julie DeTraglia. “We are pleased to join the Nielsen One Alpha program to ensure it accurately creates a holistic view of ad performance and content viewership for the industry.”

    “We are pleased to be working with Nielsen to provide insight and feedback regarding Nielsen One and ensure it delivers on its promise of being a truly holistic cross-screen measurement solution,” said Magna EVP and managing director of audience intelligence & strategy Brian Hughes.

    This news builds on a series of industry-leading enhancements made by Nielsen over the past year, including the transformation of its digital measurement, onboarding big data for inclusion into its National TV measurement service in September 2022, rebranding its streaming suite, unveiling its cookieless approach, rolling out an ID Resolution System and most recently, enhancing its national television measurement by measuring viewing in a more precise manner with individual commercial metrics.

  • Disney BYJU’s Early Learn app onboards Neeraj Chopra as brand ambassador

    Disney BYJU’s Early Learn app onboards Neeraj Chopra as brand ambassador

    Mumbai: Olympic gold medallist Neeraj Chopra, represented by JSW Sports, has been announced as the brand ambassador for Disney BYJU’s Early Learn app.

    As part of this two-year commitment, Chopra will inspire the young learners of BYJU’s to learn in a more creative and interactive way and most importantly, help them understand the importance of sports in their lives, said the brand in a statement.

    “While a lot has been written and said about Neeraj’s historic achievement in Tokyo, the story behind how he got there is one that is truly inspirational, making him a great role model for the youth,” stated JSW Sports CEO Mustafa Ghouse. “We have been working closely with Neeraj to identify meaningful brand associations, and this partnership made a lot of sense since he has always wanted to work with kids. We hope that the Disney BYJU’s early learners are inspired by Neeraj’s success and make the most of this learning platform.”

    “As a sportsperson, there is nothing more encouraging than seeing children learn from an early age while getting the chance to instill the right values in them,” said Neeraj Chopra. “In sport or life, learning and training go hand in hand and I hope I can work with these children to get them engaged and more involved with the learning process.”

    Since his gold medal-winning performance at the Tokyo2020 Olympic Games, Chopra has climbed up the rankings to become one of India’s most-followed sports celebrities on social media. Additionally, he has become one of India’s most sought-after brand endorsers this year, having signed long-term associations with 10+ major brands since the Olympics.

  • Star India elevates Vaibhav Goyal to SVP – ad sales for sports

    Star India elevates Vaibhav Goyal to SVP – ad sales for sports

    Mumbai: Disney-owned Star India Network has elevated Vaibhav Goyal to Star Sports senior vice president – ad sales, as per his LinkedIn profile. Previously, he held the position of Star Sports vice president – ad sales, for 6.6 years.

    Goyal joined Star Sports as assistant manager and he was named assistant vice president – ad sales in July 2003. Prior to Star Sports, he was with GroupM India as planning manager for over three years.

    A qualified engineer from MITS – Gwalior, Goyal has completed his MBA from Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies.

  • Disney Plus subscriber growth decelerates with 2.1 mn additions in Q4 2021

    Disney Plus subscriber growth decelerates with 2.1 mn additions in Q4 2021

    Mumbai: Disney Plus added 2.1 million subscribers in the fourth quarter 2021 much lower compared to the previous quarter where it added over 12 million subscribers. The streaming service saw subscriber growth in domestic and international markets except in India (Disney Plus Hotstar) where the number of total subscriptions decreased.

    The Walt Disney Company’s total subscriptions for its direct-to-consumer (DTC) business stood at 179 million including Disney Plus at 118.1 million, Hulu at 43.8 million and ESPN+ at 17.1 million subscribers.

    The overall subscriber growth stood at 48 per cent on a year-on-year basis whereas for Disney Plus it was 60 per cent. The Walt Disney Company chief executive officer Bob Chapek affirmed that the company would reach its target of 230-260 million subscribers by 2024 and achieve profitability for its streaming service Disney Plus by then.

    Beginning next year, Disney Plus will be doubling its slate of original content from its tentpole brands including Disney, Marvel, Pixar, Star Wars and Nat Geo. The company has 340+ local original titles in various stages of development and production and expects its total content expense to be about $ 8 to 9 billion by 2024.

    While the company is not expecting linear subscriber growth on a quarter-on-quarter basis, it does expect to see an increase in subscriptions based on two factors – its expansion into new markets and increasing cadence of content during the third and fourth quarters of the year.

    In two years, Disney Plus expanded across 60 countries in 20 languages. The streaming service expects a further expansion into 50 additional countries by the end of next year and reach a total of 160 countries by 2023. It recently launched in Japan and will launch in South Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong on 12 November which is also Disney+ Day. It will continue to expand into markets like Central Eastern Europe, Middle East and South Africa in the future.

    The direct-to-consumer business revenues increased by 38 per cent to $4.6 billion. The average monthly revenue per paid subscriber for Disney+ decreased from $4.52 to $4.12 due to a higher mix of Disney+ Hotstar subscribers in the current quarter compared to the prior year quarter. Disney Plus Hotstar subscribers account for 37 per cent of Disney+ paid subscriber base.

    “As we celebrate the two-year anniversary of Disney Plus, we’re extremely pleased with the success of our streaming business, with 179 million total subscriptions across our DTC portfolio at the end of fiscal 2021 and 60 per cent subscriber growth year-over-year for Disney Plus,” said Bob Chapek. “We continue to manage our DTC business for the long-term, and are confident that our high-quality entertainment and expansion into additional markets worldwide will enable us to further grow our streaming platforms globally.”

  • The Walt Disney Co announces Disney+ Day global event on 12 Nov

    The Walt Disney Co announces Disney+ Day global event on 12 Nov

    Mumbai: The Walt Disney Company is set to host Disney+ Day global event on 12 November to celebrate the second anniversary of its streaming service Disney+. The streaming platform will also expand to new Asia-Pacific markets on the day of the event.

    Subscribers to Disney+ Hotstar will access exciting content releases including Hotstar Specials’ series “Special Ops 1.5” helmed by Neeraj Pandey, starring Kay Kay Menon. Marvel Studios’ “Shang-Chi and  The Legend of The Ten Rings,” “Jungle Cruise,” and “Home Sweet Home Alone” will premiere digitally along with fresh content from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, National Geographic, and Star in international markets. 

    Disney+ will give non-subscribers access to preview 100 hours of content across genres to promote its service, said the statement.

    “The inaugural Disney+ Day will be a grand-scale celebration of our subscribers across the entire company,” The Walt Disney company chief executive officer Bob Chapek. “This day of appreciation brings to life our mission to entertain, inform, and inspire fans and families around the globe through the power of unparalleled storytelling, and will become an annual tentpole event to be amplified across our global businesses.”

    On the day of the event, viewers can watch the content premieres of titles like Walt Disney Animation Studios’ “Olaf Presents,” and “Frozen Fever.” Oscar-winning shorts “Feast” and ”Paperman,” and Oscar-nominated Mickey Mouse short “Get A Horse!”.

    The content slate also includes an animated short film “Ciao Alberto” from Pixar, featuring characters from this summer’s animated hit breakout film “Luca.” A new short from “The Simpsons.” The first five episodes from season two of “The World According to Jeff Goldblum” from National Geographic.

    Furthermore, a special celebrating the origins and legacy of Star Wars’ legendary bounty hunter, Boba Fett. A special celebrating of the Marvel Cinematic Universe on Disney+ with an exciting look towards the future. “Dopesick” an original series starring Michael Keaton, will be released in international markets as part of the Star general entertainment content offering.

  • Disney’s APAC head Luke Kang bats for regional content to push growth

    Disney’s APAC head Luke Kang bats for regional content to push growth

    Mumbai: The focus areas of the company in the APAC market have not changed much in the last one year, said Luke Kang, who was appointed as The Walt Disney Company, president – APAC, excluding India in 2020. Under his leadership, the APAC business has undergone restructuring with the appointment of a D2C head, spun off a division in Indonesia to grow the market and maximise the regional scale and in-market expertise in markets like Japan and China.

    Kang virtually addressed the APOS summit on media, telecoms, and entertainment industry in APAC organised by Media Partners Asia on Tuesday.

    The APAC market is critical to grow Disney+ 116 million SVOD subscribers globally, said Kang. The streaming platform has had a soft launch in Japan and will soon launch in South Korea, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. “The APAC market will contribute a sizeable share to the global subscriber base” he added.

    Even though most of their content is produced in the US, the audiences in the APAC market including Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore have embraced Disney+, noted Kang. “These markets have a strong affinity for global and regional content”, he said.

    “We’re not going to dabble in local content, but be a major player”, he emphasised when talking about the importance of producing content in local markets and supporting the creative economy in these markets. Kang said that first it would be important to understand the nuances about the customers in these markets. For example, he observed that consumers in Indonesia prefer to consume Korean or Japanese content. Those kinds of insights would enable Disney+ to make relevant investments to grow their subscriber share in local markets.

    “We are thinking differently, than we used to pre-D2C. We get a lot more data in real-time. We are learning that we need to be very broad,” said Kang, “We will be doing a lot of local and regional content across multiple markets, to make our service better, more exciting, more localised.”

    Speaking about the importance of SVOD business, he said, “SVOD is what you would call the ultimate scalable business. It is the one business in our portfolio where scale really matters. This technology allows us to bring the benefits of our global scale to consumers, especially, to consumers in APAC. Earlier, in the media industry, the content scale was global but it was difficult to scale distribution globally because you had a lot of walled garden ecosystems.”

    Earlier this year, Disney has decided to shut 18 TV channels in Southeast Asia and Hong Kong effective from 1 October. The reports indicated that the channels were closed as part of the media company’s focus on increasing its focus on the D2C business.

    Speaking about the move, Kang stated, “There’s a role for all media in the lives of consumers, although it changes over time. We’ve had to make tough decisions across the region when it comes to television. We’re making these decisions based on consumer demand, based on where the consumers are going. Consumers are telling us they want to engage with us on digital.”